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<h1 id="title">Some more Background Info on Bilski v. Kappos</h1>
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<span class="anchor" id="line-2"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-3"></span><p class="line874">The Bilski case can be summed up in one simple <span class="anchor" id="line-4"></span>question: "Shall a method for calculations be patentable?" <span class="anchor" id="line-5"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-6"></span><p class="line874">This has an obvious impact on the software patent debate: If the <span class="anchor" id="line-7"></span>answer is "yes", software will be patentable, too, if the answer is <span class="anchor" id="line-8"></span>"no", it won't. But such an unconditional answer is unlikely - we'll <span class="anchor" id="line-9"></span>get something like "yes, but only if..." So if the part after "only if" <span class="anchor" id="line-10"></span>applies to Software, the court might very well *reaffirm* the <span class="anchor" id="line-11"></span>patentability of software, even if many/most/all so-called "business <span class="anchor" id="line-12"></span>method patents" are excluded. <span class="anchor" id="line-13"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-14"></span><p class="line874">In re Bilski, the Federal Circuit didn't answer the above question <span class="anchor" id="line-15"></span>directly, but by introducing the so-called  machine-or-transformation <span class="anchor" id="line-16"></span>test (which already had been proposed by the US Government's ACB during <span class="anchor" id="line-17"></span>Gottschalk v. Benson in 1972): <span class="anchor" id="line-18"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-19"></span><p class="line874">“A claimed process is surely patent-eligible under § 101 if: (1) it is <span class="anchor" id="line-20"></span>tied to a particular machine or apparatus, or (2) it transforms a <span class="anchor" id="line-21"></span>particular article into a different state or thing.” <span class="anchor" id="line-22"></span><span class="anchor" id="line-23"></span><p class="line874">What remains unclear is if a (=any) computer is a particular enough machine <span class="anchor" id="line-24"></span>in the eyes of the courts and the patent offices to exclude software. <span class="anchor" id="line-25"></span>Second, we don't know if the transformation of a signal is enough <span class="anchor" id="line-26"></span>transformation to pass the test. Keep in mind that the two conditions <span class="anchor" id="line-27"></span>are connected by "or" not by "and". These are mentioned explicitly in case <span class="anchor" id="line-28"></span>law: For the "particular machine" question, see Ansonia Brass &amp; Copper Co. <span class="anchor" id="line-29"></span>v. Elec. Supply Co., 144 U.S. 11, 18 (1892), "if an old device or process <span class="anchor" id="line-30"></span>be put to a new use, which is not analogous to the old one, and the <span class="anchor" id="line-31"></span>adaptation of such process to the new use is of such a character as to <span class="anchor" id="line-32"></span>require the exercise of inventive skill to produce it, such new use will <span class="anchor" id="line-33"></span>not be denied the merit of patentability"; for the signal transformation <span class="anchor" id="line-34"></span>e.g. in re Schrader, 22 F.3d 290 (Fed. Cir. 1994), also Judge Rader's <span class="anchor" id="line-35"></span>dissent in the Bilski case. <span class="anchor" id="line-36"></span><span class="anchor" id="bottom"></span></div><p id="pageinfo" class="info" lang="en" dir="ltr">MoreInfoBilski  (last edited 2009-10-08 15:58:59 by <span title="Georg Jakob @ c190.lmu.vpn.lrz-muenchen.de[141.84.22.190]"><a class="nonexistent" href="https://ffii.org/gjakob" title="Georg Jakob @ c190.lmu.vpn.lrz-muenchen.de[141.84.22.190]">gjakob</a></span>)</p>

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